Tori Amos Is One Native Invader

Posted On 11 Nov 2017 / 0 Comment

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My old Uncle Don always had the best music and still does. I remember long ago I came to see what he was listening to and he played the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for me. I was very familiar with it as it was Nirvana’s breakout song from the year before. This version was done as a piano ballad with one of the softest voices Ii ever heard. It was a definite contrast to Kurt Cobain’s angry version. I kind of laughed at the version and asked Uncle Don who was doing that version. He answered Tori Amos and handed me the deluxe version of her debut album, Little Earthquakes.

I hated her version of “Smell Like Teen Spirit” but as I listened to the rest of the album I really became intrigued by the music and Amos’ fragile voice. The songs were piano-based compositions with intricate layers and soaring vocals. I remember listening to singles like “Crucify” and “Silent All These Years”. The music was simply Amos’ voice and piano a far departure from what was playing on the radio in the era when grunge was all the rage. It was a nice departure.

But how would this interpret live? I got to see Amos in concert for the first time in 1998 on the Choirgirl Hotel tour. To me, playing piano seems to be a very intricate undertaking that requires a little more attention to deal than other instruments. Often bands use them as fill in various songs or is part of an ensemble. My first concert I attended was as a child with parents was Ferrante & Teicher, a famous piano-playing duo. The music was great, and they were great but they sat behind their pianos the whole time. The music was nice but the show was kind of boring. Piano music to me for the longest time was best heard and not seen. Showmanship didn’t arrive until Elton John dressed things up with his wild costumes unique eyeglasses and flamboyant shows. He was able to bridge that gape in boredom from the original piano gods Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis who pioneered making the piano fun to watch. John brought back the piano to the forefront followed by Leon Russell and of course Billy Joel.

I was surprised the first time I saw Amos perform the amount of energy as well as she balanced innocent, fragility with sexuality. It was an interesting show for an amphitheatre. Despite a great show she and her music looked out of place there.

Amos is on out on tour in support of her new album, Native Invader, a highly politically charged album that includes her usual introspection giving the listener into a glimpse into her personal side. She has been one of the louder yet not obnoxious voices regarding feminism and often proudly wears her heart on her sleeve.

Her show recently at Woodruff Arts Center was a more appropriate setting for Amos’s music, as it became for all intents and purposes a listening room instead of a concert hall or party. The full crowd listened intensely they were treated to the artist alone with two pianos opposite each other as she switched between the two often in mid song as he revisited earlier work like “i i e e e” from 1998’s The Choirgirl Hotel and “God” from her 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes. She only performed “Reindeer King” from Native Invader instead performing songs from her catalog through 2005’s The Beekeeper.

The set was infused with many covers or what I’ll call interpretations since Amos has the innate abilities to turn other works into her own. Included in her set was Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”, Don McLean’s “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” and Harold Arlen’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” most famously performed by Judy Garland. One of the more intriguing songs she performed was “Fire on the Side” a song from her first musical venture in the mid/late ‘80’s Y Kant Tori Read whose origins were as a synth pop band – a far cry from what most are familiar with today, yet still interesting and unique – much like the artist herself.